by Scott Toney
The Dragon’s Words
Days later
Lilya was in a large hall that was carved out of the inside of The Canyon of Eyes. She sat on a stool beside Clare and Amari, listening to merry flutes playing with drums and maracas pulsing a beat. A woman and man’s voices sounded beautiful in the hall as they sang together.
She had helped get this occasion together and hoped Clare would come. It seems to be lifting her spirits, she thought as she drank from a glass of grape juice and popped a vanilla pastry into her mouth. It’s good for all of us. We needed something to think about other than preparations for war.
“Look at them dance!” Amari interrupted Lilya’s thoughts as he pointed to a man spinning a woman on the dance floor. The man pulled her close and gave the woman a kiss. “I wish I could dance like that.”
Lilya smiled. “All you have to do is let your body move with the rhythm. The flow of the music will come to you and carry you if you just give in to the music.”
“Clare?” Amari bumped the girl with his elbow. “Does milady care to dance?”
Lilya bobbed her head to the beat of the maracas and tapped a toe on the stone floor.
“I don’t know how to dance,” Clare said and half smiled. It was more of a smile than they’d seen from her for months now.
“Come on,” Lilya nudged her. “Surely he won’t step on your feet too many times. There’s nothing like a good song to fill your soul.”
Amari nudged her again, then stood and offered his hand. “Please, milady.”
“Alright,” she half grinned again and took his outstretched hand.
He pulled her up from her stool and as they made their way to the dance floor Amari turned back to look at Lilya. “You should come dance too, you know? I’m sure Cypress and Juniper would gladly dance with you. And I’ll bet Clare would spare my two left feet for a dance later as well.”
“I promised I’d meet Alexander before sunset,” Lilya said as she watched Amari swaying Clare to the music. “You too love birds have fun. If I’m back before the end of the dancing maybe I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Alexander?” Amari grinned and gave her a sappy-eyed look.
“You’re so full of it,” Lilya responded as she stood, snatched a half-loaf of bread from the table nearby and headed for the hall’s doors. She wouldn’t give Amari the satisfaction of seeing her grin before she left. She had to admit her heart was fluttering a little bit though. A dragon? As a young girl I never would have believed a creature like that could get my heart going like this.
She walked through the hallway beyond the meeting hall and thought about the word “creature” as she admired the evening sunlight stretching through the hallway’s windows and resting on the floor around her feet. He was a creature, something totally different from men, and yet what he was, was something so much more than them.
Lilya looked out of one of the windows as she passed it, glancing down at the ocean waters crashing off the canyon walls below. What a beautiful place, she thought as she tore a piece of bread from the half-loaf she carried, feeling the crust crumble as she tore it apart. She enjoyed the rich flavor of the bread as she chewed it. Alexander said he had something different planned. I wonder what he has in mind.
He told her to wear strong shoes but wouldn’t say more about what they were doing. All he would say is it would be something that was both relaxing and would make her smile.
As she left the windowed area, Lilya took a torch from a bracket on the wall and walked through the dark corridors of the cave passageways. She wove through halls, sometimes illuminated by jellyfish swimming in pools of water close by and sometimes connecting to passageways that were as dark as any abyss of the world.
She knew where she was going. Lilya walked toward Alexander’s chamber, the one he shared with the canyon’s eagles. She had walked this route so many times she could maneuver it with her eyes closed.
Lilya, Alexander’s voice entered her thoughts as she neared him. It’s good to have you near.
She wove through a corridor that slowly lit with sunlight. As she entered the chamber she braced the torch in an empty bracket on the wall. “Hello, friend,” Lilya said as she entered, admiring his beautiful crimson form as he stood before her. “So what did you have in mind for us to do?”
Alexander smiled. “It waits by the river for us. Would you care to come with me?” He extended his paw for her to climb into and she came to him and climbed into his embrace.
“What are we doing there?” She held onto one of his claws as he lifted them into the air and out of the cave’s mouth. She watched the eagles moving restlessly over their massive nests.
“If I told, then that would take away part of the fun.”
The evening sun shone gently in the sky as they flew above Cush’s lands. Lilya breathed in the fresh air flowing past them. She held her hand out to catch more of the wind, then tore a piece of her bread free and savored the richness of its taste. “I wish we could share a picnic together,” she told Alexander, “and you could enjoy the richness of the meal’s flavors with me.”
“I get to enjoy time with you.” His wings beat strongly above her as he dipped them over the treetops and down into a clearing that extended to the river Gihon. “The rich flavor of our time together and the thoughts and words we share are much more important to me than anything else.”
Sometimes he knows just what to say, she thought. Sometimes he takes my breath away.
Alexander landed gently in the clearing, barely disturbing the earth, and Lilya stepped out of his paw as he lowered it.
She looked around but could see nothing different. “What are you up to?” she asked.
“Walk with me to the river,” he told her. “You’ll see it there.”
Lilya walked toward the water’s edge and looked around her, expecting to see something.
As she walked, Alexander walked beside her. “Stand there and wait,” he said as he reached the water’s edge and lowered his head, almost touching it to the river. He opened his mouth and Lilya could see something that looked almost like steam rolling across his lips.
It was getting colder and she heard a crackling sound coming from the river. It sounds like… but surely it can’t be. Lilya watched as Alexander’s breath curled from his lips onto the river and the river slowly glossed over, turning into a sheet of ice. Amazing, she thought as she took a step toward the ice. Frost had covered the riverbank as well.
No. Wait. Let me finish it first so it is safe for you, he spoke through her mind.
Lilya stood and watched as Alexander breathed bits of frozen air onto the ice river’s surface. Finally he stopped, lifted his head and turned to her with a smile.
“A sheet of ice for you to skate on,” he offered her.
“How did you do that?” she asked. “I thought you breathed fire.”
“There is something in me that allows me to breathe fire. I can change it; alter it so that I can produce extreme cold instead. I remembered once when you told me of a winter that was so cold it froze the river. You spoke of how much you enjoyed sliding across it. I wanted to recreate that time for you.”
“You remember the simplest things, and yet they mean so much.” Lilya walked to the river’s edge, the soles of her feet crunching the frosted grass beneath them. She reached a finger out over the river and touched the ice. It was the most surreal sensation to feel the extreme cold of the ice and yet the warmth of the day radiating on her back.
“It won’t remain solid for long,” Alexander warned her, “only until the sun sets at best. I will watch the river and tell you if I see it weakening.”
“Thank you,” Lilya said as she stepped out onto the ice and slid across its surface. The frozen water didn’t stretch the entire river, of course, but only about the length of Alexander’s body. It took Lilya a few moments to get her bearings on the smooth surface but soon she slid all over the ice and swirled in circles a few times as she marveled at the substanc
e beneath her. “The last time the river froze I was a little girl,” she said. “I wanted it to remain that way forever but the fishermen only complained they were losing valuable time at their trade.”
“There will always be time to work in the future. It is best to enjoy the little moments when they come.” Alexander lay down beside the river and rested his head on his paws.
Lilya slid across the ice toward him, pushed off on the bank and slid the other way. An hour passed as she enjoyed the ice. She fell down only a few times and lifted herself right back up. When her hands touched the frigid substance she wished she could box some of it up to keep after the rest had melted. She knew it was a silly thought though.
Soon she looked to the sky and saw the pink hues of sunset racing across the clouds above. She leaned over and traced a fingertip on the smooth ice. Cool water collected on it from the melting surface.
“It won’t be safe to be on much longer,” Alexander said as he lifted his head and blew a chill air out over the frozen river. “Would you watch it evaporate with me?”
“That sounds wonderful,” Lilya said as she moved her shoes on the smooth substance and slid across to where the bank met the ice. She lifted herself up onto the bank and walked to Alexander’s side.
“Lie on my wing,” he offered and curled it for her to relax on.
Lilya eased herself back against his wing and slid her fingers across the side of one of her shoes. She watched as fragments of ice crystal melted against her skin and evaporated as steam into the air. “What a beautiful night. Thank you so much.” She could feel Alexander’s heartbeat through his wings.
She watched as the sun set and was barely visible in the sky before them. Darkness would come soon. Steam rose from the river as the sheet of ice broke into smaller pieces and melted into the river once more. A cool breeze wafted from the river’s shore.
“Do you know what I find so amazing?” she asked.
“What?”
“You remember everything. You remember my likes, dislikes and my dreams. You do things to make me smile because of what you know of me. You remembered I like to paint and loved the ice and you brought me those things. No matter what’s going on, you find ways to make me smile. That’s amazing. No man has ever been like that for me.”
“It’s my pleasure. You deserve that. I want to bring you happiness and a warm heart.”
Lilya looked to the stars and enjoyed the warmth of being embraced in Alexander’s wing. “Do you know what I remember? I remember you said you compose poetry. I’d like to hear your words sometime.”
“Perhaps I could share a poem with you that has begun in my mind,” Alexander said as he turned his head to look at her. The sunset reflected off of his beautiful eyes.
“I would love that,” Lilya told him as she pulled closer into his warmth. A cool breeze swept over her. Lilya closed her eyes, listening intently for Alexander to begin.
“The wind
I feel it come to me
so close
I feel it bring me
its hope
And you and me,
We close our eyes and dream.
There’s something magical in your touch
something unique
between us
And I find
sometimes it’s hard to breathe
An emotion
swells in me
It blooms
It fills me with the scent of you
And I can’t help but be revived tonight
The sunset in the distance glows
reminds me of
your beautiful soul
Your head rests on me, just so
And I feel both the race, and stop of time
Lovely Lady
Purest heart
whose eyes I see amongst the stars
I find I seek forever
together with your mind
In all the world I’ve wandered
In all the life I’ve lived
Not have I found another
whose heart
fits mine like this
I’m speaking to the heavens,
to the world which rests above
and find them whispering back
this one word”
Suddenly Alexander was silent. Lilya still lay in his wings, her eyes closed. What a beautiful poem, she thought. And even though her eyes were closed she could feel Alexander turn his head to look at her. Did he think she was asleep?
“love.”
The poem was complete and Lilya felt warmth flowing through her. He loves me. She smiled as she lay with her eyes closed. I think I love him too. Her words weren’t spoken. But somehow she knew Alexander understood.
Crickets sang. Frogs croaked along the river bank. Alexander held Lilya through the night as darkness came and they both dreamed.
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